Collective Artists Workshop

The Collective Artists Workshop is a performing arts theater company based in Bishop, Georgia. A nonprofit 501(c)3 organization founded in 2021, the company offers a wide range of acting, musical theater, voice and writing classes in addition to producing high-quality theatrical performances.

Our Fearless Leaders


Dallas Bono has performed over 30 roles as a leading tenor with renowned opera companies including The Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the Baltimore Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera in the Heights, Arizona Opera, Opera Colorado, Central City Opera, The Austin Lyric Opera, and the New York Grand Opera, to name a few. He has been honored to sing under the direction of internationally renowned conductors such as Emmanuel Villaume, Christian Badea, Henry Holt, Vincent LaSelva, Victor DeRenzi, and William Weibel. Dallas has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall, the Juilliard

Dallas Bono

Artistic Director

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Conductor

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Vocal Coach

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Artistic Director 〰️ Conductor 〰️ Vocal Coach 〰️

Opera Center, and Alice Tully Hall. Equally at home in Musical theater, he has performed leading roles in Candide, South Pacific, The Fantastiks, Jekyll and Hyde, My Fair Lady, and even Edna Turnbladt in Hairspray.

Dallas operates a successful local voice studio and his students have gone on to sing in renowned opera and music theater programs nationally and abroad. Dallas most recently appeared in RespirOpera’s inaugural production as Luigi in Il Tabarro and The Third Hermit in The True Story of Cinderella. In 2023 Dallas performed the lead role of George in the comedy, Moon Over Buffalo, and will sing Adolfo Pirelli in Sondheim’s immortal classic, Sweeney Todd.

Dallas narrates audiobooks, is an author with the Knight Literary Agency, and is a black belt in the mixed martial art, Kyuki-do.


Princess Ida, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance all at City Center. He was seen as Detlef in Paper Mill Playhouse's production of The Student Prince and as the American in Rags. At Goodspeed Opera House, he played the role of John in Shenandoah and at Algonquin Arts Theatre he played Mitch in Tuesdays with Morrie and Sir Robin in Spamalot.


William Whitefield was the Executive Director at Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, NJ for six years, overseeing the Production, Education, Development, Marketing & Box Office staff, while making all programming and artistic decisions. There, he produced over 30 main stage Broadway style shows such as the New Jersey premiere of Spamalot, Joseph….,  Tuesdays with Morrie, The 1940s Radio Hour, The Music Man, Always, Patsy Cline starring Sally Struthers, My Fair Lady, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Shrek, The King & I, Annie Get Your Gun and South Pacific. As the Co-Founder & Producing Artistic Director of

William Whitefield

Producing Director

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Choreographer

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Vocal Coach

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Producing Director 〰️ Choreographer 〰️ Vocal Coach 〰️

Asbury Park Theater Company, he currently works with their Board of Directors and has produced great shows such as Million Dollar Quartet, Green Day’s American Idiot, The Bikinis and American Son.

A proud member of SAG-AFTRA, Actors Equity Association and Dramatist Guild, Bill was featured on stage in The Presidents starring Rich Little at the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center and at TheatreFest in Montclair playing, among others, such roles as Billy Carter, Dan Quayle and John Dean. The show was later taped for TV and aired on PBS. For 20 years, he also toured as the Construction Worker in the world famous disco group Village People. 

In New York, he’s been seen in leading roles from productions of The Gondoliers,

Lisa Cesnik Ferguson is a theatre professional and SDC Member, with 35 years of experience producing, directing, acting and teaching regionally. In Georgia, she has directed a dozen productions at the Springer Opera House and twice that many at Gordon State College where she is the Theatre Director and tenured Professor. She earned her baccalaureate degree in Theatre from Ball State University, her MFA in Theatre from University of Georgia and is currently working toward her certification in Fundraising Management from the Eli Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. In Georgia she is working toward her Certification at Georgia Film Academy.

Lisa Cesnik-Ferguson

Director

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Acting Professor

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Community Engagement

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Director 〰️ Acting Professor 〰️ Community Engagement 〰️

Lisa became a working actor at the age of 17, when she received her first paycheck from Puppets and Players, the Children’s Theatre touring arm of Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI). She has explored every genre of theatre - developing new works, musical theatre, museum theatre, touring for young audiences and producing Shakespeare Festivals. She founded and ran Rose of Athens Theatre, Inc. as Producing Artistic Director from 2006-2015. Her artistic mission is to utilize the power of the performing arts to lift up every voice.

Lisa counts herself fortunate to have studied with Martha Jacobs (Author of A Meisner Legacy [2012]) from 1994 to 1996, and her acting training is firmly rooted in the Neighborhood Playhouse Technique. She is well-versed in the somewhat Spolinesque techniques of Augusto Boal, having studied with him in 2000, and then again at the Brecht Forum in NYC in 2002, Most recently she did a weekend workshop in 2019 with Julian Boal, Augusto's son.

In 2019, she presented at the Teaching Matters Conference at Gordon State College—Learning Differences and the “Neurodiverse”. In 2022, she presented at the Civic Learning & Democratic Engagement conference in Minneapolis, sharing discoveries that were unearthed during the Oral History project she co-created, called EMERGENCE, which highlighted student reflections of their experiences of Gordon State College during integration in the 60's and 70's. As an actor, director and educator, her highest calling is to foster an environment where everyone has an opportunity to invest themselves in the transformative power of performing arts.


Staff & Board Members

T. A. Powell

Artistic Associate

Christine Ziegler Cestaro

Administrative Manager

Ryan Roberts

Marketing & Ad Sales

Board of Directors

  • Marco Cestaro, President

  • Treasurer

  • Secretary

  • Dallas Bono

  • Michael Brewer

  • Kendall Kookogey

  • William Whitefield

Eva Ellerbee

Choreographer & Dance Instructor